Each year, students in the College of Engineering's department of mechanical engineering complete an upper-level design and build creative project as part of their curriculum. One of the more visible projects is the Mini Baja Project, sponsored annually by the Society of Automotive Engineers. The Baja races give students the opportunity to participate in competitions that simulate real-world engineering design projects and their related challenges. Engineering students are tasked to design and build an off-road vehicle that will survive the severe punishment of rough terrain.

In April, the U of A Baja team competed in the SAE competition in El Paso, Texas, and was ranked in the top half of all competitors in the overall and maneuverability sections of the competition.  Participating in competitions is a great way for undergraduate students to network with other students and get hands-on experience that could relate to their future careers in engineering.

“The Mini Baja project is the epitome of our department’s CDIO initiative,” said Jim Leylek, department head. “Students design, build, implement, and operate the entire vehicle and work together in a team environment to ensure success of the project. We are extremely proud and excited to see our student perform better and better each competition year.” 

The U of A Baja team’s next competition will be in Pittsburg, Kansas. Over 1,000 students from various countries are registered to attend and, over the past week, the U of A team has been hosting one of those teams; the international team from Federal University of Pernambuco in Recife, Brazil.  Their team, Mangue Baja, entered two cars in the Brazilian Baja competition which won both first and second place. 

In order to compete in the U.S. race, Mangue Baja shipped their dissembled car from Brazil to Fayetteville and used the lab facilities at the Mechanical Engineering Building to reassemble and get their car ready in time for this weekend’s competition. In addition, the team had to translate and prepare their design presentation in a foreign language. “A group of students who are willing to go to that much effort just to come and compete in the US, deserves our support and respect,” stated ME’s faculty adviser, Monty Roberts.

It was Roberts who made it possible for the ME students and department to host Mangue Baja. “Since the race is so close to us this year, we were in a position to host them and provide a place to do all of this,” said Roberts, “I am unsure of who first coined the term co-opetition, but this spirit is one of the hallmarks of the SAE Baja program, and I can’t think of a better way to remain true to that spirit.”

Working with students from such diverse backgrounds has allowed both the ME and Brazilian students to learn different techniques and technologies from each other while creating friendships these students will allows remember fondly.  “I knew things were going well, when I stopped by the labs one night at 10 p.m. to check-in and found both teams having dinner together, sharing racing videos, and laughing,” said Roberts.